


the house with no roads to it

by Meatball42



Series: Rare Pairs [173]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-Series, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27376942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: Some things change. Some things never do.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley
Series: Rare Pairs [173]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/365729
Comments: 6
Kudos: 87
Collections: The tuesday Celebration Flash





	the house with no roads to it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_interuniversal_geometer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_interuniversal_geometer/gifts).



In the three years since the Battle of Hogwarts, a lot had changed in Wizarding Britain. There was an all-new governing body with hardly more than a third of the same wizards and witches in charge as previously. The population itself had changed: many had perished during Voldemort’s reign of terror, many had fled, and now, some were coming back, along with new blood. What was popular in music had changed, trendy shops had closed and new ones had risen to prominence. High society could not have looked more different.

And Harry Potter, whose awkwardly smiling or grimacing or shouting face had been plastered across the front page of the Daily Prophet almost weekly for years… was nowhere to be found.

  
  


The property that Harry, Ron, and Hermione settled on was approximately ten kilometres from the middle of nowhere, Britain. The nearest neighbor was several minutes away by broomstick. The house was old, and had needed a decent amount of repair when they purchased it. But now, it was warm, and imbued with their magic and filled with their furniture and portraits and it felt like home.

It wasn’t that Harry didn’t leave the house.

He went outside all the time. He gardened, he took care of the chickens and ducks. He flew almost every day. The property was large and encompassed several acres of woods, in which all sorts of interesting herbs and roots and things could be found. Harry spent a fair amount of time in the woods.

But he also liked to stay inside. He had started off teaching himself to cook the magical way, and then got Molly to send him a few books on household spells and learned those. The house had a solarium where Harry kept a cauldron, relearning potions in a well-lit, quiet place, entirely unlike what he’d known before. The house had a library, where Harry whiled away quiet mornings and hot afternoons reading anything he liked.

Harry kept himself busy. He just never went anywhere else.

  
  


Hermione and Ron were getting rather concerned. 

At first, they’d been busy with their new jobs at the Ministry, and it had been nice that Harry was home when they got back every night, puzzling over the latest renovation, or finishing up dinner, or chatting with Ginny or Neville in the fireplace. 

When it had gotten to be a while, with no indications that Harry was looking for a job or anything of the sort, they pushed a little. They asked him over dinner, meeting each others’ gazes in very obvious uncertainty, questions like, ‘What are you thinking about doing next?’ and ‘Are you interested in that position-?’ that someone or other had owled asking Harry about, because there was always a new one. 

Harry had shrugged, watching his fork push his food around his plate. A meat pie, his second time trying the recipe. It had come out well. “I sort of want to take a break, you know,” he told them. “A bit of a holiday.”

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other.

“Yeah mate, sounds good,” Ron said, and that was that- for a while.

A few more months on, and it was George who pointed out that Harry hadn’t been by Wheezes in a while, was everything alright? They talked it over away from the house, and they were going to bring it up gently, except it kept Hermione up at night, worrying.

The three of them were in the great big bed she’d transfigured for them in the master bedroom, drifting off toward sleep, when she found herself blurting out, "Harry, why don’t you ever leave?”

There was silence: Hermione and Ron holding their breath, and Harry…

Harry sighed. “I just… I don’t want to. People stare at me, they want to me talk about Voldemort and what we did. Or they want advice, or autographs or- I just. I just want to be…”

“Free?” Hermione finished.

“Yeah or. I. I like it out here. It’s quiet.”

Harry was in the middle of the bed. Ron tucked up close behind him and reached over, finding Hermione’s hand also reaching for Harry.

“Then stay here,” Ron said, like it was that simple. “‘Snot like you need to work, with that great pile of gold in Gringotts. I don’t blame you for staying away from all of that.”

“If that’s what you want, Harry, we support you,” Hermione agreed.

They both felt it when Harry relaxed, and moved closer. He took both their hands.

“Thanks, guys. I know I can count on you.”

  
  
  


Since the end of the war, a lot of things had changed in Wizarding Britain. The culture changed, the government changed.

Some things stayed the same.


End file.
